Claims
- 1. A method for causing a chemical reaction on a substrate in a particle beam processing device, comprising:creating a vacuum for a particle generating assembly having at least one filament; heating the at least one filament to create a plurality of particles; operating the particle generating assembly at a first voltage having a range of 110 kVolts or less; operating a foil support assembly having a thin foil at a second voltage, which is higher than the first voltage, to cause at least a portion of said particles to travel from the particle generating assembly to the foil support assembly and to exit the vacuum for the particle generating assembly, the thin foil being made of titanium or alloys thereof and having a thickness of 10 micrometers or less; and passing the exiting particles through the thin foil to a processing assembly where they cause a chemical reaction on the substrate.
- 2. The method of claim 1, wherein a machine yield of the processing device is above 30/L wherein L is a width of the processing device measured in feet according to a formula of: K=Dose·SpeedCurrentwhereby: K is machine yield measured in Mrads feet/min/mAmp,Dose is energy absorbed per unit mass measured in Mrads, Speed is feed rate of the substrate measured in feet/min, and Current is a number of electrons extracted from filament measured in mAmp.
- 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the particle generating assembly is contained in a evacuated vessel having an operating volume in a range of 0.05-145 ft3.
- 4. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:injecting gas other than oxygen into the processing assembly to complete the chemical reaction.
- 5. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:surrounding at least a portion of a periphery of the particle beam processing device with a protective lining to absorb radiation generated when the plurality of particles decelerate, the protective lining being capable of absorbing radiation with residual less than or equal to 0.1 mrem per hour.
- 6. A method for causing a chemical reaction on a substrate in a particle beam processing device, comprising:creating a vacuum for a particle generating assembly having at least one filament; heating the at least one filament to create a plurality of particles; operating the particle generating assembly at a first voltage having a range of 110 kVolts or less; operating a foil support assembly having a thin foil at a second voltage, which is higher than the first voltage, to cause at least a portion of said particles to travel from the particle generating assembly to the foil support assembly and to exit the vacuum for the particle generating assembly, the thin foil being made of aluminum or alloys thereof and having a thickness of 20 micrometers or less; and passing the exiting particles through the thin foil to a processing assembly where they cause a chemical reaction on the substrate.
- 7. The method of claim 6, wherein a machine yield of the processing device is above 30/L wherein L is a width of the processing device measured in feet according to a formula of: K=Dose·SpeedCurrentwhereby: K is machine yield measured in Mrads feet/min/mAmp,Dose is energy absorbed per unit mass measured in Mrads, Speed is feed rate of the substrate measured in feet/min, and Current is a number of electrons extracted from filament measured in mAmp.
- 8. The method of claim 6, wherein the particle generating assembly is contained in a evacuated vessel having an operating volume in a range of 0.05-145 ft3.
- 9. The method of claim 6, further comprising the step of:injecting gas other than oxygen into the processing assembly to complete the chemical reaction.
- 10. The method of claim 6, further comprising the step of:surrounding at least a portion of a periphery of the particle beam processing device with a protective lining to absorb radiation generated when the plurality of particles decelerate, the protective lining being capable of absorbing radiation with residual less than or equal to 0.1 mrem per hour.
Parent Case Info
This is a division of application Ser. No. 09/434,380 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,426,507, filed Nov. 5, 1999, which is incorporated herein by reference.
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File history of U.S. Patent No. 6,528,127 issued to Edlein et al. on Mar. 4, 2003. |